Rating:
Genre:
Comedy
Release Date: 03/20/2007
While comparing
Naked Trucker & T-Bones to
Tenacious D begins to paint a picture, it only takes you halfway there.
Naked Trucker & T-Bones are also a musical duo with a cult following where two somewhat known comedians (
Dave "Gruber" Allen and
David Koechner) play characters. The difference is the
D are ambitious and clueless while the
Naked Trucker & T-Bones are slackers and jaded, too. They love truck stops and Quaaludes as much as the
D love
Dio, and while their debut album and DVD arrive just as their television series comes to a close, landing an eight-episode show is probably just about as ambitious as these guys get and you shouldn't expect them on the big screen anytime soon. One last contrast is that the
D's hilarious and loud while this team's a slow charm, a love 'em or hate 'em kind of charm of which the producers of
Live at the Troubadour are well aware. In a smart move, the album isn't much different than the live shows fans have traded for years with no overblown studio tracks. There's casual conversation in between ironic rebel music and
Kinky Friedman comes to mind as often as
Hee Haw since the music is wry and smart while the jokes are often pure corn. The
Trucker's
George Carlin flavored dropout attitude is a perfect foil for
T-Bones' energetic, scrambled-from-too-many-peyote-buttons delivery, and any act able to drop
Noam Chomsky quotes while their three-piece band lays down the barroom stomp deserves its sizeable cult.
Live at the Troubadour serves to satisfy said cult with its simple and fitting presentation, but it also acts as a great introduction to this quirky act and their unique rebel yell.
~David Jeffries, All Music Guide